How often do amazons like the play?

JamJar

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Orange-Winged Amazon ~ Marley
So its coming up to 3 weeks now I've had Marley my orange winged.. and he seems to have stopped progressing when it ones to bonding.. he now ventures out onto his play gym and he went on his swing today for the first time but he never seems to play! he will only ever sit on a perch watching me and my wife or eating.. i don't think i have bought him a good toy to play with??

how often does your amazon play?

thanks
 
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JamJar

JamJar

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Kiwibird

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Hehe, Marley sure looks pleased with his grape:D Amazons have a tendency to be "perch potatoes" and even the most active zons do spend a good amount of time just kinda sitting there, resting, napping maybe a little preening but not a whole lot else. What amazons do have a reputation for is being winged pigs with the intelligence of a toddler. That makes zons great puzzle/foraging toy candidates, as they are highly motivated to figure out how to get a treat and smart enough to do so. I would try Marley with his favorite treat in a simple foraging toy and see if he plays with that! Also keep in mind, not every bird is a big chewer. Foraging, untying knots and baby rattles are Kiwi's favorite toys. He usually ignores wood toys. He'd probably be a lot less playful if we gave him a lot of wood toys, which he really doesn't like to play with. Keep trying new types of toys to figure out what Marley likes best and you may see him become a whole lot more active if you figure out what he likes to play with:)
 

Dopey

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Mine took a long time to play with the toys in his cage but he always liked foot toys. I keep lots of foots toys in his cage...well like 6-8 so I guess that isn't a lot. Mine loves loofah and I keep that available to him all the time.
 

Amanda_Bennett

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Zilla 29 Y.O. Orange Wing Amazon
Zilla is not a big wood chewer, but give her some "vine" balls and she loves them. She also likes the sea grass mats and loofah to chew. She seems to play one day, then not for several days. She prefers to sit and watch the world go by out the window. She loves the radio and "sings" along a lot (reminds me of a parakeet sometimes)
 
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JamJar

JamJar

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Orange-Winged Amazon ~ Marley
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Thanks for all your responses!

i went around dubai today on a mission to find some good toys and managed to buy a large wire type rope (strong bendy rope perch thing lol) which he loves! and a string/beed hanging toy and a wooden val with rope hanging toy.. lol these explanations are rubbish il get some photos :) but he seemed happy on his new huuuge perch today :)

could you show me a picture of this Foraging toy? not sure what you mean?

thanks!
 

Kiwibird

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Knowing that you are in Dubai, I am not sure if you have the same types of toys we have available here in the US. Basically though, a foraging toy is just a toy that makes your bird "work" for treats. It can be as simple as wrapping some treats in toilet paper and stuffing them in the cardboard tool so the bird has to rip up the cardboard/paper to get the treat or complex store bought acrylic ones where the bird must solve a puzzle to retrieve the treat.

I don't think this company ships to Dubai (may be worth checking) but this page is their selection of foraging toys to give you an idea of what i'm talking about:):

FORAGING TOYS

I know you haven't had Marley very long, but it looks like your getting him a really nice "area" setup:) I see you have placed a piece of fruit on his rope perch, and that is actually a way of making him"forage". With the setup you have, you could hide fruit, nuts and seeds all over for him to have to retrieve to keep him occupied! "Playing" in and of itself isn't really a natural behavior. More, it's about keeping them occupied and happy by simulating natural behaviors. Thats why toys to chew up or toys where they work for food work so well for parrots. Since they are animals of higher intelligence and very tactile/see more of the color spectrum than us, they also do enjoy brightly color small objects like (large enough not to swallow) plastic buttons and beads and small baby rattles they can hold in their foot and explore with their mouth.
 
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Taw5106

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The setup looks great. My Buddy (GCA) is a perch potato. He's 24 yo, and since we brought him home last March (2014), I've struggled getting him to play with toys. He will play if he sees me touching things, but he freaks easily. Example, he and I were snuggling Wednesday night, while snuggling he was preening and he pulled or lost a flight feather (he's started a molt). I picked up the feather seconds after he pulled it, showed it to him and he starts crying or whining because I showed it to him. He's so sensitive, but he's very vocal and he's easy to read most days. He fears everything but shows interest in items I am touching, food is a HUGE win. Keep going!
 
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JamJar

JamJar

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Orange-Winged Amazon ~ Marley
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Knowing that you are in Dubai, I am not sure if you have the same types of toys we have available here in the US. Basically though, a foraging toy is just a toy that makes your bird "work" for treats. It can be as simple as wrapping some treats in toilet paper and stuffing them in the cardboard tool so the bird has to rip up the cardboard/paper to get the treat or complex store bought acrylic ones where the bird must solve a puzzle to retrieve the treat.

I don't think this company ships to Dubai (may be worth checking) but this page is their selection of foraging toys to give you an idea of what i'm talking about:):

FORAGING TOYS

I know you haven't had Marley very long, but it looks like your getting him a really nice "area" setup:) I see you have placed a piece of fruit on his rope perch, and that is actually a way of making him"forage". With the setup you have, you could hide fruit, nuts and seeds all over for him to have to retrieve to keep him occupied! "Playing" in and of itself isn't really a natural behavior. More, it's about keeping them occupied and happy by simulating natural behaviors. Thats why toys to chew up or toys where they work for food work so well for parrots. Since they are animals of higher intelligence and very tactile/see more of the color spectrum than us, they also do enjoy brightly color small objects like (large enough not to swallow) plastic buttons and beads and small baby rattles they can hold in their foot and explore with their mouth.

The setup looks great. My Buddy (GCA) is a perch potato. He's 24 yo, and since we brought him home last March (2014), I've struggled getting him to play with toys. He will play if he sees me touching things, but he freaks easily. Example, he and I were snuggling Wednesday night, while snuggling he was preening and he pulled or lost a flight feather (he's started a molt). I picked up the feather seconds after he pulled it, showed it to him and he starts crying or whining because I showed it to him. He's so sensitive, but he's very vocal and he's easy to read most days. He fears everything but shows interest in items I am touching, food is a HUGE win. Keep going!

thanks for the replies and i get what i mean now thanks kiwibird. i like to hide fruits from him for when he runs out in his bowl I'm guessing around 2pm so he has a good 3-4 hours where he has to find his snacks before i get home lol.. I've bought him these hanging seed things which i think might be a good substitute from his seed bowl as its more of a challenge and might make him more active in the day.

Taw i know what you mean marley is **** scared of hands.. sometimes he won't let me near him and 10 seconds later he wants me to scratch his head lol!
 

lmh

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I have had Oscar for about 6 weeks now, he is about 30yrs old, it took him quite a while before he would even touch any of the toys I got him. He doesn't mess around with the toys inside of cage much, but he now loves the foot toys I keep in top of his cage. His favorite seems to be the whiffle ball that I hang on rope and have it filled with bits of tortilla....lol...of course he is majorly food driven so it obviously turned into his favorite. but, before I added that to the mix he really loved destroying the vine balls and the Chinese fingertraps filled with shredded paper! Ohhh what a mess it is but so much fun for him! He gets so mad at it, flipping it around between his beak and feet - very entertaining! :) He also loooves a piece of paper to play with and shred! He acted very frightened of the new toys but within a few days of having to see them and walk by them, he got brave and touched one - - that is all it took for him to see it wasn't going to hurt him. I don't know how much of a 'toy player' he was in his past, but he definitely enjoys them now!
 
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JamJar

JamJar

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Orange-Winged Amazon ~ Marley
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these work out at around $2 each.. there around 10 inches long so a decent size :)
 

Birdman666

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Presently have six Greenwing Macaw (17 yo), Red Fronted Macaw (12 yo), Red Lored Amazon (17 y.o.), Lilac Crowned Amazon (about 43 y.o.) and a Congo African Grey (11 y.o.)
Panama Amazon (1 Y.O.)
He looks fine to me, and that appears to be a very nice set up you have there for him.

Like everyone else said, they do tend to perch potato. Then every once in awhile they will hang upside down and attack their toys...

My 42 year old Lilac Crowned amazon rarely plays with hanging toys. She seems to prefer to shred boxes, telephone books, and unfortunately, my flip flops...
 

Flboy

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I know there is a size difference between your bird and mine, but a simple cheap forging toy. I have a bowl full of different size/color bottle caps. All safe plastic. I mix small treats into the bowl. JoJo digs through the bowl flipping the caps out. Oddball toy pieces also go into the bowl.
 

henpecked

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i do the same sort of things. I have tons of marbles around the house. I fill a bowl with marbles and a handful of small seeds/nuts in the bottom. It's pretty funny to watch.The good thing about marbles is they fall to the bottom of the cage and are easy to clean.
 
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JamJar

JamJar

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Orange-Winged Amazon ~ Marley
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Thanks for all the replies this helps alot I think I will put some bottle caps in his seed bowl to make him work for them :)
 

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